Pope Benedict’s First Encyclical on "Agape and Eros"

The Pope’s first Encyclical is due any day. Apparently the Holy Father is discussing love, especially the debated relationship between “agape” and “eros.”

I jumped for fear when I saw that the Holy Father was going to address eros and agape.

There has been so mucy BAD teaching on it, but it looks like that the Holy Father has done his homework.

I have sat through so many sermons that that teach “agape is the Greek word for divine sacrificial love” and “eros is the Greek word for sexual love.” This is incorrect. Here are three examples where agape means nothing close to “divine sacrificial unconditional love”

John 3:19 but men loved [agapeo] darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.

2 Pet 2:15 who loved [agapeo] the wages of wickedness.

2 Tim 4:10 Demas, because he loved [agapeo] this world, has deserted me…

Hopefully since the Pope is very smart (and infallible?) he will have weighed these sort of texts and not make the common mistake of lumping “agape” with an overly simple definitation. I can’t wait to read it.